The first one was a closet. He knew that from the last time that he had been here. He pushed it open, peering inside briefly, but saw nothing.
He headed along the hall, checking each door that he came upon, but there was nothing inside any of the doors.
Most of them were bedrooms, and when he had been here before, rescuing Alex, he had worked his way through these bedrooms, searching them until he had found what he needed.
This time, he found nothing.
No one to fight. No sign of the Captain.
Nothing.
He glanced down at the dagger.
It still hadn’t started to glow.
Gavin relaxed a little. It meant that he was too late. Whoever had come here had probably abducted the Captain.
When he had finished searching this level, he paused at the top of the stairs. There had still been no sign of the Captain.
This couldn’t be all of it, though. If he had a storeroom filled with enchantments, enough that would have filled the warehouse like he had seen with Gaspar, then Gavin had to find where he had kept them.
He started down the stairs. He paused at the bottom of the stairs, looking over to the body, but there was no sign that anybody else had been there. Gavin was tempted to take the enchantments off the body, but they obviously hadn’t been effective in protecting that man, so they would likely do nothing for him, either.
He searched along this level. He found the kitchen, a massive dining room, and what looked to be a banquet hall—all empty. By the time he reached the main entrance, he had started to think that he might not find the Captain or what had happened to him.
There had to be more.
“Gavin?”
He breathed out a sigh, for once not annoyed to hear Wrenlow in his ear. “Wrenlow,” Gavin whispered. “Do you remember the Captain’s fortress layout?”
“I have it in my book.” He could imagine Wrenlow flipping through pages, coming up to the depiction of the Captain’s home. “Why?”
“Because the fortress has been attacked.”
“Are you sure that you want to stay there by yourself?”
It was almost enough to make Gavin regret having Wrenlow’s voice in his ear. “Just tell me if there are more than the two levels.”
“I don’t need my diagram for that. There’s a basement. I don’t have any details on it, though. The sources we had, and that Gaspar was able to uncover, couldn’t get us that information. Why?”
“Just a hunch.” Gavin swept his gaze around the inside of the entryway. “Where’s the basement?”
“There should be a staircase somewhere. Again, I don’t have a lot of details. I think there might be an access from the upper level.”
“The upper level?”
“That’s what I have in my notes. It’s why no one had any information about it.”
Balls.
He had looked there, though it had been a cursory glance.
He hurried up, already thinking where it would be. When he reached the room that belonged to the Captain, he passed through the large sitting room and made his way into the sleeping chamber.
There was a door along the back wall.
Gavin tested it. It was unlocked.
He pulled it open, and surprisingly, there was a narrow staircase that led down.
“Found it,” he said.
Gavin hurried down, holding the dagger out in front of him, watching for any sign of any glowing. If there was anybody using enchantments down here, then he wanted to ensure that he was prepared.
He found nothing.
The stairs were steep and headed down deep into the fortress.
This had to be it.
When they ended, he found another door. This one was massive. Iron. Symbols were worked into the door. Likely enchantments. Gavin tested it and found that it was unlocked.
That was enough to tell him that something was amiss.
He pushed it open and stepped into an enormous room. Rows of shelves and tables had dozens upon dozens of items stacked on them. They were all of various sizes, metal, and glass and wood—likely all enchantments.
This was the Captain’s enchantment vault.
A body lay sprawled out near him.
Gavin hurried over.
It was the Captain.
He was a muscular man, solidly built, though older with graying hair. He wore enchantments all along both arms, as well as a chain necklace around his neck. Whoever had knocked him down had enough skill—and power—to handle somebody with enchantments.
Balls.
That meant a sorcerer. It had to.
The Captain wasn’t dead. He rolled his head, looking at Gavin.
“What happened?” Gavin whispered.
“Don’t let him take it.”
Gavin frowned. “Take what?”
“Don’t. Let. Take it.”
The Captain reached for Gavin’s arm, holding his gaze for a moment, but then life faded from his eyes.
Gavin looked up.
Somebody slammed into him, knocking him back, and went racing up the stairs.
Chapter Five
Gavin got to his feet. As he did, he felt power building. He had no idea how he could feel it, only that he was aware of it. This entire room was a massive vault. He didn’t know what the enchantments in the room were, or what the Captain intended gathering them all here, but the fact that he had kept them hidden suggested that they were powerful.
Gavin needed a chance to find the necklace.
But he needed to know who had attacked here.
He looked down to the Captain.
Don’t let him take it.
What had the attacker taken?
Gavin looked at the rest of the vault. He could sort through this later. He could find the necklace later.
For now…
Now he needed to find the attacker.
After checking the Captain—he was dead, as far as Gavin’s cursory check could reveal—he raced up the stairs, and by the time he reached the door at the top of the stairs, he found it locked. He summoned the power within him through his core reserves and slammed into the door, forcing it open. It thundered as it crashed open.
Gavin tore through the sleeping chamber, to the sitting room, and then down the stairs. There was still no sign of the attacker.
He reached the door leading out of the fortress.
A shadowed form appeared on top of the wall. They were moving fast.
It had to be a sorcerer, though as Gavin looked at the El’aras dagger, it still hadn’t started to glow. If it was a sorcerer, then they weren’t using any power.
What have I gotten himself into now?
He pulled the door to the fortress closed and raced forward, reaching the wall, using a surge of power through his core reserves to jump.
When he did, he could feel the power surging within him, and he reached the top of the wall.
He hesitated there.
Where’s the attacker?
They were still out there. Somewhere.
Gavin swept his gaze around him.
There.
He saw a shadowed form racing through the streets.
Gavin jumped, landing in a run.
“Wrenlow,” he said as he raced forward. “The Captain is dead. I’m chasing his attacker.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
Gavin ignored that question. “If you can reach Gaspar, I might need his help.”
He caught another glimpse of the shadowed form streaking down the street and raced after them. He had to get to them. Somehow.
Gavin ran as quickly as possible, but it seemed as if the attacker made their way even faster than Gavin.
They had to be enchanted, though as he looked down at the El’aras dagger, he saw no sign of glowing.
“What can you tell me?” Wrenlow asked.
Gavin didn’t know whether he should be relieved that he had Wrenlow in his ear or irritated. At this point, he needed to jus
t chase the person down.
I wouldn’t have found the basement without Wrenlow’s help.
Reminding himself of that didn’t make him feel that much better.
“Probably a sorcerer. The Captain was heavily enchanted. Whoever got to him took him out quickly.”
Not only him but all his guards.
If there was just one attacker, whoever they were was skilled.
A skilled sorcerer in the city.
Why did that strike him too much like the Mistress of Vines?
And another attack on the Captain.
Only this one Gavin had failed to stop.
He didn’t feel that much remorse at his death. Especially not with the Captain willingly moving his enchantments out of the city, posing a danger to the delicate peace within the city. Still, Gavin wanted to know what had happened and wanted to find the attacker, if only so he could uncover why the person was operating in the city.
Don’t let him take it.
Whatever the sorcerer had taken—and Gavin was convinced that it was a sorcerer—was dangerous enough that the Captain feared them having it.
What could the Captain have had within his vault that would be that dangerous?
Another flicker of movement, and Gavin hurried forward.
Finally, he saw the figure slowing.
Gavin slowed along with them. There was no point in racing after this person until he had a chance to figure out where they were going. Only then would he make his move.
Gavin slipped along the street, trying to see through the cloud of night. This part of the city was older, all stone buildings. Some of them had crumbled, though most remained intact, a sign of the Yoran that once had been. A few streetlights were staggered, though the light they cast was dim and muted. Shadows lingered, spreading outward like a fog in the night. A gentle breeze carried a hint of the forest just at the edge of Yoran, but the scent was buried beneath the stench of the city.
He thought the figure moved toward a home at the end of the street but couldn’t be sure. The storefronts in this part of the city were bunched tightly together, which had served him well when needing to run along the rooftops, though a few had too much space between them. The streetlight barely reflected off the glass. As he went farther, the shops began to change over to houses. None of these places was his target, anyway.
“What do you see?” Wrenlow asked, his voice coming through the enchantment Gavin wore in his ear.
He moved carefully, turning from side to side and looking for any sign of movement. He held the El’aras dagger in one hand, which was less obtrusive than the magical sword he also carried. At least with the dagger, he wouldn’t draw nearly as much attention from the constables.
“There’s a row of houses here,” Gavin said. He described to Wrenlow where he’d followed the man.
“There shouldn’t be anything out there. Not that I’ve learned.”
“Other than his hideout?”
“That might be true. I wonder what kind of place—”
“Still need to be quiet,” he whispered.
Gavin smiled, though he did need for Wrenlow to ease back on the constant chatter in his ear. The enchantment allowed only him to hear anything from that side, though he wasn’t sure whether anyone else could overhear their conversation. Certainly, someone might hear his whispering. More than that, Wrenlow continually talking in his ear made it so Gavin couldn’t hear what was taking place around him.
He reached the end of the street. So far, there was nothing but darkness all around him, and he didn’t see anything else in the night. The attacker had disappeared.
Gavin gripped the dagger, glancing down at the blade. It hadn’t started to glow. For as little magic as presumably existed within Yoran, he’d encountered more than his share of magic users. The blade would expose most of them to him.
But not this person.
“Where are you?” Wrenlow whispered again.
“Near the end of the street. I’ll keep looking, but—”
There came a flurry of movement in front of him.
The attacker.
They had taken out the Captain and everyone in his house easily.
He had to be careful.
Gavin spun back against the building. He tried to keep as quiet as he could, dancing across the ground, but his feet dragged a little more loudly than he intended. Gaspar would be disappointed. For that matter, he was disappointed in himself.
A breeze gusted across his face from the suddenness of the movement coming toward him. Instinct, as well as training that had been honed over countless years, kicked in.
He pinned himself back against the wall, focusing on what he could feel, not so much what he could see. In all the times that he’d trained over the years, Gavin had gained some skill hiding in darkness. Learning how to fight in the dark had been one of Tristan’s most important lessons.
There came a slight puff of wind.
Gavin darted forward with the El’aras dagger and slammed his fist forward. It met nothing but air. He swung back and swept around in a circle, waiting for a sign of anyone else who might be there. He didn’t find anyone.
Again, he twisted.
Again, there came nothing.
Gavin hesitated and ducked a little lower, pushing his head back against the wall. He tried to stare into the darkness, but he couldn’t see or feel anything.
“What’s happening?” Wrenlow’s voice crackled too loudly.
Something slammed into his belly. He tensed and suppressed the pain immediately. He swung his leg out and connected with something. He continued to sweep his leg forward and followed through. Gavin rolled forward in the Sudo technique, then crashed to the ground.
It’s too loud. All of this is too loud.
Gavin hurriedly smacked at the enchantment, silencing it. What had he been thinking, leaving it active? He had enough experience with Wrenlow chattering away in his ear, and he should have known better than to keep the enchantment enabled.
Somebody wiggled beneath him.
Gavin lifted them and slammed them back against the cobblestones. He punched rather than using the knife, not wanting to kill. Incapacitation was fine, but nothing more than that. Not until he knew more about why they’d targeted the Captain.
Gavin quickly rolled off to the side, and he lay there for a moment, waiting.
This person was tall and lanky.
Not the person he’d seen in the Captain’s fortress.
Gavin didn’t notice anyone else near him, but in the darkness…
Not so dark anymore. The dagger glowed softly with yellow light. Magic.
Of course.
He’d suspected a sorcerer had attacked the Captain. This confirmed it.
Gavin borrowed the pale light glowing from the dagger as he looked around him. The light allowed him to see more than he’d been able to otherwise, and it revealed a hint of movement. The shadowed street seemed to press upon him, as if the shadows themselves were ready to attack.
That was all he needed.
He slipped low, shifting his pattern, and dove toward the sign of movement. He rolled onto the other person, who grunted. Gavin needed to be more careful than that.
Gavin jumped to his feet and kicked the downed man. He spun in place, swinging his gaze around. There wasn’t anything nearby. Gavin held out the dagger, which continued to glow. He steadied his breathing.
Whoever was using the magic had to be close.
He slipped along the street carefully. In the distance, he caught sight of a dark figure on the far side of the street near a home with a small red awning.
The dagger surged brighter.
He darted forward, moving as quickly as he could. The dagger revealed his presence, but it didn’t matter at this point.
All that mattered was that he got to—
Something wrapped around him.
Magic.
Gavin was trapped. The figure on the far side of the street stalked toward him. They
were cloaked, and though he couldn’t see anything underneath the cloak, he could feel the presence there. The figure continued to wrap bands of power around him, swirling them from head to toe.
Gavin focused on the core reserves of power that existed deep within him. He felt it now as a vast store of energy buried deep within him. Magic energy.
In the time that he’d been in Yoran, he had struggled with trying to come to grips with why he’d have the ability to call upon that kind of magic and what it would do for him. But he had no answers. Unless he had an opportunity to find his old mentor—a man who was supposed to be dead but who Gavin believed still lived—he wouldn’t have answers as to why his training had taught him to access power that he was not supposed to reach.
Tristan had never trained those with magic. He had trained fighters. He had trained healers. He had trained poisoners. In the time that Gavin had lived in the barracks and trained with Tristan and the others, there had been no attempt to use magic—nothing other than what he’d been taught and the way he’d been used to break through chains.
Now it would have to allow him to break through something else.
As he held on to that energy, this person—who Gavin believed was a sorcerer rather than just an enchanter—came closer to him.
“You should stay out of my business,” the sorcerer said.
“What did you take?” Gavin asked.
Don’t let him take it.
The Captain had been concerned enough about whatever had gone missing.
The sorcerer stopped about two paces away from him, as if knowing Gavin might be able to break free. “You should stay out of my business,” he said again.
“You don’t need to repeat yourself.” Gavin breathed out steadily, and he held on to power within him. All it would take would be for him to expand that sense of the core reserves and blast through it.
He had done it before. He had no idea how powerful the sorcerer was, but he had to figure out what was going on. Why would there be another sorcerer in the city? Not only that, but why would they be moving at this time of night? And out here?
“I’ve heard there’s someone like you in the city. Someone quite meddlesome,” the sorcerer said.
He was the right size and build for the one he’d seen at the Captain’s fortress, but had that person had a beard like this sorcerer? He’d been knocked over too fast to tell.
The Fates of Yoran (The Chain Breaker Book 3) Page 5